How to Benefit from All Your Creative Work

A Guest Post by Anika McFarland

How can you benefit from all your creativity? Anika McFarland shares her experience. Image credit: Bellezza87 via Pixabay

Have you been attracted to a number of creative disciplines only to hear that you should *focus* on only one thing if you want to be a professional?

In today's guest post multi-disciplinary advocate Anika McFarland explains why you
should not abandon your creative impulses, and even more - both your art and the world can contribute a great deal from your many talents.

She does so too - she'sa published author, photographer and artist.

Want to learn more? Read on!

The well-wishers

Has anybody told you before that you do too many things? That you would be better at (insert your creative work) if you would just focus on one thing?

I know I sure have heard it. Multiple times. I know you probably have, too.

But have you ever thought about what would be missing from your life and from everybody’s life that admires your creative work if you would just focus on one
thing?

great masters

Fact is that a lot of famous artists, writers and architects did more than one thing and one thing only. I don’t think Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Edgar Degas, Frank Lloyd
Wright, and others would be as successful as they where would they have heeded to the advice to just focus on one thing. We all would be missing some of the beautiful work that they did.

Did you know that Leonardo Da Vinci had more than 15 different interests that he pursuit? Aside from painting and drawing, he also loved inventing, architecture,
sculpture, science, music, and more.

And did you know that Frank Lloyd Wright published 20 books and many articles? He also was an interior designer and educator.

There are many more examples of famous creatives that were and are doing a lot more than focusing on one thing.

Think about it. It’s not just about you; it’s also about what others would be missing.

You matter and all your creative work matters. Not just some of it.

The power of connection between arts

Here is an example how that can work:

When I wrote my book about horses I used my art and
photos in it to support my message. Though it’s simple, it connected the creative aspects of several different things that I do. My writing, my art
and my photography.

But how can you benefit from all your creativity?

Here are some ways:

8 awesome ways to benefit from all your talents

Are you sculpting? Great! Then you have an eye for proportions that could help you with drawing or painting and getting proportions right.

Are you a photographer? Awesome! Then you know about composition. Which can also help you in creating drawings or paintings. A well composed drawing or painting is much more
pleasing to the eye and coveys its message.

Are you a painter? Splendid! Then you know about how colours work together and about colour theory. That can help you in photography. You can see which colours play off each
other and enhance what you want to show in your photograph.

Are you all of it? Even better. You are an expert. Go write about it and become an author.

And if you are an author: Use your creative work in your book like I did.

If you are doing any creative work: You are also apt to be able to create new art forms and intertwine them with each other. And how cool is that? That is a great way to use
multiple disciplines of your creativity.

Plus you will never run out of ideas. If you are doing more than one thing then you are more likely to have more ideas and thus create more.

You just never get bored and thus stay motivated and get better and better at all the things you are doing. One art feeds into the next and so on.

Your art is the whole thing

As you can see you can use all of your creativity to enhance other aspects of your creative work.

As I said earlier: Your creative work, whatever that might be, matters and interacts with each other. That is how your best work can be created. It’s not about choosing one thing
over another. It's about developing yourself in all of your creative work.

Just like you are not only one aspect of yourself, you are not just one part of your creative work. You are the whole thing, as is your creativity, too.

So go explore new ways of creating and don’t be afraid to do that. That’s part of the fun of being a creative person.

If you see something somewhere that you like - try it! And just ignore the naysayers.

Will you fail sometimes? Of course! The trick is to not let that discourage you and keep going. That’s what will lead you to success.

Have your say!

Do you combine various creative forms? How do they contribute to your overall art?

Have you thought of leaving some of them behind?

Have you done so and why?

Please share in the comments! And remember to tell your friends on social media!